What does it mean when a program director tells you "You are ranked highly"?

All about contact from Program Directors after interviewing for a residency spot

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So... You've interviewed for residency, or are still interviewing for residency and Intern Year and trying to figure out where to go from here in making up your rank list.

For those lucky enough to have made a good impression, and liked by the program you interviewed at, you might have had some post-interview follow up.

Perhaps this follow up was from a program coordinator, resident at the program you liked, a faculty member you clicked with, or even the Program Director or Chair.

First of all, maybe the residents have some inside information that they might share with you, and/or they might be the messengers from the Program Director to feel you out or pass along a message that you and your application were well received.

If you were lucky enough to hear from a program, and not all programs contact applicants post-match, you might have had the opportunity to hear these famous words "We are ranking you highly."

What does that phrase mean?

In a nutshell, nothing! It just means they are ranking you (or plan to rank you) - but guarantees you nothing regarding your exact placement on their rank list. You might be in the middle - being ranked "highly" means different things to different people. Essentially, it might mean, any spot higher than the dead-last spot on the submitted rank list by a residency program.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this phrase does not guarantee anything. If you get contacted with this sort of jargon, you need to figure out what this means.

If you get contacted, feel free to return the favor and reciprocate the contact if you wish. Ask the program to really quantify that.

Here's what you should be looking for (and asking yourself and the program):

Am I going to be ranked to match?

What this means is, does the program plan on ranking you in such a way that you are in the top number of rank slots that guarantees that you match there. Your rank on their list MUST be less than the number of residency spots the program offers.

If yes, then you should continue and ask the following question:

Can I sign a pre-match contract?

Now this is a sticky point. Very very sticky. Proceed with caution. Some programs offer pre-matches to foreign grads and IMGs. Take this if you can - a bird in the hand is often worth more than one in the bush. However, you must sign the contact before the match comes out.

Secondly, for the American Grads - you can pre-match outside of the match... but this is trickier. I would speak with your domestic medical school and try and figure out how best to do this without breaking any rules.

You can always go through the match on the belief and hope that the final rank list that is submitted is the same as the one that had you previously listed as "ranked to match," but again, there is no such guarantee.

The only sure thing is a signed contract.

Otherwise, you can go ahead and enter the match.

Look for an upcoming article about the Match, and more on the Scramble (it's not just a word game to us doctors!) :)